February 20, 2013

From February 14th through March 3rd the Mandell Professionals in Residence Project (MPiRP) will present To Fool The Eye from 1812 Productions at the Mandell Theater. 1812 Productions, the only professional theater company in the country dedicated solely to comedy, makes its home at Philadelphia’s Plays & Players Theater, and we’ve been delighted to have them in residency on campus for this ambitious production of To Fool The Eye, Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaption of Jean Anouilh’s 1940 romantic comedy Léocadia (Time Remembered).

Léocadia tells the very funny and touching story of a duchess who is devoted to her young nephew. When the nephew loses the woman he passionately loves through her untimely death, the duchess goes to great efforts to recreate their first meeting so that her nephew may relive the moment again and again. This goes on for two years until Amanda, a poor hat maker and perfect double for the lost Léocadia, appears. The Minneapolis Star Tribune said,  “A delightful farce that intelligently wonders about the nature of love, artifice, the eye's perception rather than the heart's reality, and the delicate distortion of memory."  

To Fool The Eye is being directed by Jenn Childs, 1812's Artistic Director. Jenn and other members of the company have been on campus since fall working with our students. The cast, made up of nine Drexel students, features professional actors Maureen Torsney-Weir and David Howey. The crew is made up of more than 75 students who are working on an elaborate set, on lighting and sound design, box office operations, marketing, and front-of-house management. Tickets for To Fool The Eye range from $22 to $38 and can be purchased at www.1812productions.org or by calling 215-592-9560.